Chelsea comeback from a two-goal deficit to complete a Premier League comeback against Tottenham Hotspur at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Enzo Maresca’s side started the match poorly; Marc Cucurella slipped whilst in possession of the ball to give Brennan Johnson a free pathway to the goal. The Welshman played the ball across the box for Dominic Solanke to tap it past Robert Sanchez in the fifth minute of the match.
Cucurella once again slipped over, which allowed Dejan Kulusevski the space to dribble across the edge of the box before the Swedish winger unleashed an acute effort into the bottom right-hand corner. The Spanish defender decided immediately after a change in his boots would cause a change in his game.
The Blues composed themselves after a disastrous 15 minutes and scored to get them back into the game in the 18th minute. Jadon Sancho picked up the ball deep in Spurs’ half, dribbling through the opposition midfield and precisely rifled a long-range effort off the post into the bottom right-hand corner.
A Cole Palmer penalty in the 61st minute levelled the game. Moises Caicedo chased a through ball into the opposition box before he was clattered by a poorly timed-slide tackle from Yves Bissouma. Anthony Taylor awarded the penalty which Palmer slotted into the bottom left corner.
Chelsea completed their comeback and took the lead in the 73rd minute. Palmer was involved once again, as he dribbled around the Spur’s defence to penetrate and attempted a shot. It was deflected into the path of Enzo Fernandez who smashed the ball past Fraser Forster to make it 3-2.
Another Palmer penalty wrapped up the game in the 84th minute. Palmer won a penalty after a tangle with Pape Matar Sarr in the corner of Spurs’ box. The Englishman dispatched the penalty with a cheeky, ice-cold, Panenka to earn the Blues three points. It was a record-breaking penalty, as Palmer became the player to score the most consecutive penalties without missing, beating Yaya Toure’s previous record of 11 penalties.
Spurs grabbed a consolidation goal late on in the match, however, the game had already been won by that point. A cutback by James Maddison fell to Son Heung-min on the edge of the six-yard box who poked the ball into the net to make it 4-3 to conclude a bizarre but entertaining game.
Despite the initial disappointment of going two goals down in the first 15 minutes, to come back from these two mistakes is a testament to the character currently within this squad. This was the first time Chelsea had comeback from a two-goal deficit in a Premier League game and won since 2018.
On top of the character, high technical quality was abundant. Sancho was particularly impressive, building off the confidence from his first goal for Chelsea midweek to get the goal that started the Blues’ comeback. On the ball, he looked sharp and linked up with his teammates extremely well.
Fernandez continued his recent hot streak in form. It seems that the Argentine has understood this slightly advanced position given to him by Maresca. His late runs in the box have given defenders an additional forward to worry about. His link-up play was also superb, as he played a crucial part in breaking up the Spurs press in the build-up to his goal.
It was a risk from Maresca that paid off to sub off Romeo Lavia at the interval. The Belgium midfielder had a strong first half but he picked up a yellow card and the system as a whole was struggling. His change at the break gave Chelsea the tactical edge over Spurs to complete the comeback. It is encouraging that the manager is willing to take these sorts of risks and proactively find solutions to problems rather than purely reacting to issues.
As always, Spurs vs Chelsea was an entertaining game full of twists and turns that would captivate any neutral fan but raise the blood pressure of any Chelsea or Spurs supporters.
Chelsea’s victory saw them rise above Arsenal in the table to 2nd place, four points behind League leader Liverpool, who are a game behind after their match was postponed due to bad weather.
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